Feast of Flowers

Chapter 26 - Shocking

On the previous two occasions when Pei Yan escorted Hua Jin home, it was already nighttime, so he hadn't fully seen Hua Jin's living environment. When he noticed the dilapidated and worn-out alley, with potholes and protrusions on the road, he couldn't help but furrow his brows. Does Hua Jin have to walk on such a road every night to get home?

After the alley, there was a small open space covered with thick dust, almost obscuring the original appearance of the concrete floor. Several weeds grew crookedly in the cracks, tenaciously surviving. The house behind the open space had a mottled exterior with dark gray patterns, whether it was moss or marks left by rainwater erosion, it was hard to tell.

Clothes were haphazardly hanging on the balconies of each floor, and colorful quilts fluttered in the wind on the rooftop.

"You live in a place like this?" Pei Yan doubted that the age of this building was older than him. He glanced at the third floor and surprisingly saw a man smoking in the corner of the balcony. His eyebrows furrowed tightly. "Is it safe for you to live here alone?"

"I've been living here for a long time. The landlord is fair and doesn't raise the rent arbitrarily, and the neighbors are easy to get along with..."

Just as Hua Jin finished speaking, they heard Grandma Chen from the second floor yelling about someone stealing her dried vegetables.

If she hadn't put on makeup, Hua Jin would have wanted to cover her face. She blinked and said, "I don't like living with others. Although the house here is a bit old, the tenants mind their own business, and the rent is not high. It's quite good." Seeing Pei Yan's incredulous expression, she couldn't help but smile and said, "For single girls like me who are struggling on their own, living in a place like this is already considered a luxury. And there are even more people who, in order to save money, share a few square meters of basement or shabby huts with others. There's a saying that poverty limits the poor's imagination of a wealthy lifestyle. I believe wealth also limits your rich people's imagination of poverty."

"Who are you cursing with such a nasty attitude?" Sister Qin stood on the fourth-floor balcony, her right hand on her hip and her left hand pointing downstairs. "It's as if someone treasures those smelly and rotten vegetable leaves. Stop blaming others for everything you lose. You're annoying everyone."

Seeing this woman, Pei Yan thought of the character Yang Er's wife in Lu Xun's "The Hometown." With that in mind, he couldn't help but worry. Although Hua Jin was quick-witted, compared to these two women, she might be rendered speechless by their insults.

In the short moment he was lost in thought, the argument between Grandma Chen and Sister Qin escalated from rotten vegetable leaves to personal attacks. Pei Yan was twenty-seven years old and considered himself well-experienced, but he had never encountered such an unrestrained quarrel before.

For a while, he was astonished and speechless, his eyes wide open.

"Spit! I'm not like certain wicked women who married a riffraff and ran out covered in filth, yet still want to introduce their own family members to pretty girls. What kind of people are you from your own family? Don't you have any self-awareness? Why do you still harm others?!"

"Your children are all good stuff, but unfortunately, they don't want to live with you. What does it have to do with you regarding my family?!" Sister Qin spat. "Just look at your pathetic appearance. Spit!"

Hua Jin tugged at Pei Yan's sleeve and whispered, "Mr. Pei, let's go." If they didn't leave soon, this fire would burn onto her.

Pei Yan, who was listening with great interest, finally reacted when Hua Jin pulled his sleeve. He whispered, "Will they start fighting?"